Drinking-fountain.



C. W. VALLIERB.

DRINKING FOUNTAIN.

APPLIUATION FILED Nov. 7, 1912.

Patented June 30, 1914.

lJL'ZZO.,

'make and use the same.

CHARLES W. VALLIERE, 0F EAST AUBURN, CALIFORNIA.

DRINKING-FOUN TAIN.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 30; 1914.

` Application led November 7, 1912. Serial No. 730,056.

To all whom it may eoncem:

Be it known that I CHARLES W. VALLI-ERE, a citizen of the Umted States,residing at East Auburn, in the count of Placer and ,State ofCalifornia, have lnvented certain new and useful Im rovements inDrinking- Tount'ains; and I This invention relates to improvements indrinking troughs or fountains and more especially to those designed forpoultry in which the trough is pivotally suspended and provided withmeans whereby when the trough is full of water the .supply will beautomatically cut off and when the supply of water in the trough ismaterially reduced the trough will tip and automatically open a valve topermit water to again flow into the trough to fill it.

The invention contemplates improved means for suspending the troughwhereby the supply controlling valve is operated by the amount of waterin the trough.

`With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, and the combination and arrangement ofparts as will be more fully described and claimed.

Tn the accompanying drawings; Figure 1 represents a side elevation of awater supply pipe with this improved fountain mounted thereon; Fig. 2 isa transverse vertical section thereof; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of thedevice; Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2.

In the 'embodiment illustrated a delivery pipe or spout l is shown whichmay be connected with a suitable source of supply, said pipe being shownat its rear end provided with a screw threaded portion for entering thewall of a supply tank not shown. The front or free end of the spout isbent downwardly as shown at 2 and has a rotary valve 3 of any suitableor desired construction mounted transversely therein with a stem 4projecting .laterally at one side thereof.

'The trough or fountain 5 of any suitable or desired shape has a handleor attaching member 6 xed to one side thereof, said handle being hereshown in the form of a metal strip of suitable thickness which isriveted at one end to the fountain 5 and extended upwardly and bentforwardly to iform an upright arm 7 which is secured to ithe stem 4 ofthe valve 3. This handle 4 is lthen bent at right angles and extendedrear- Iwardly a suitable distance and is provided -at its free end witha loop or hook 8 for engagement with the pipe l for limiting the Eupwardor downward movement of the trough or'A fountain. This hook or stop 8 isformed by bending the strip laterally at right angles to thelongitudinal arm 9l 4to form an -arm 10 extending to one side of saidarm 9 and the strip is then bent upwardly at right angles to the arm 10and its terminal bent downward to form a hook which is disposed o-verthe pipe 1 and adapted to engage said pipe when the trough is almostempty for vlimiting its upward movement which causes the opening of theValve 3. When the trough is filled with water it swlngs downward untilthe arm 10 engages the lower face of the pipe 1 which limits thedownward'movement of said trough and holds it in position readilyaccessible to the poultry.

A. guard l1 extends forwardly from the arm 7 over the trough 5 beingspaced thereabove a suitable distance to permit the fowls to msert theirheads into the trough and to prevent them from getting bodily into thetrough and also to prevent chicks from falling into the trough anddrowning. This guard is shown in the form of a disk but may be of anydesired configuration and is fixed at one edge to the front face of saidarm 7 and is of a size less than the upper face of the trough orfountain.

Tn the use of this invention the trough being suspended from the valvestem will operate said stem to open and close the valve according to thequantity of water contained in the trough. When the water is reduced toa certain level or the trough entirely empty the weight of the handle 6is suilicient to cause the trough to swing upwardly thereby turning thevalve 8 in a direction to open it and thus permit the water from thespout l to flow into the trough and fill it and when full or nearly fullthe weight of the trough with the water will overbalance the handle 6and thereby turn the valve stem 4 and close the valve.

B reason of the particular -formation of the andle 6 which is made of ametal strip and is hence yielding throughout its length, the terminalhooked end of said handle may beV sprung laterally and disengaged fromthe horizontal supply pipe l. This permits the trough 5 to be entirelydischarged of water together with any foreign accumulations that mayhave gained access to said trough.

While I have described my invention with more or less minuteness asregards details and as being embodied in -certain precise forms, I donot desire to be limited thereto unduly any more than is pointed out inthe claims. On the contrary, I contemplate all proper changes in form,construction and arrangement, the omission of immaterial elements andsubstitution of equivalents as circumstances may suggest or renderexpedient.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a horizontal supply pipe and a spout thereonprovided with a rotary valve, the latter having a laterally projectingstem, a resilient arm yieldable throughout its length andsecuredintermediate its ends to said stem, a trough supported on thelower end of said arm and disposed beneath the spout, said trough whenempty being overbalanced by the weight of the upper end of the arm,stops carried by Said upper end of the arm and co-acting with thehorizontal'pipe to limit the tilting movement of the trough, said upperend of the arm being adapted to be sprung laterally to bring the stopsthereon out of the plane of said pipe and permit the trough to beentirely lrelieved of all contents.

2. 'lhe combination with a horizontally' disposed supply pipe and adownwardly disposed discharge spout thereon containing a rotary valve,the stem of the valve projecting laterally, of a trough disposed belowthe valve, a resilient metal lstrip yieldable throughout its length andsecured at one of its ends to the rear of said trough and extendingobliquely over the same and then bent laterally outward and twisted, theface end of said twisted portion of the strip having a lateral extensionwith an upturned arm at the free extremity thereof provided with ahooked terminal, said obliquely extending portion. of the stri beinglixed to the stem of the valve where y the trough is supported fortilting movement, and said upturned arm being disposed to one side ofthe horizontal supply 1pe and its ends coacting therewith to Ilimit theswinging movement of the trough, said arm being adapted to be sprunglaterally to the opposite side of said pipe to permit the trough to berelieved of its contents, and a guard plate of less size than the top ofthe trough and spaced horizontally above' the same, said plate beingrigidly secured to the strip to move with the same and the trough.

3. The combination with a supply pipe and a spout provided with a rotaryvalve having a stem extending laterally through one side 'of the spout,of a trough located below said valve and suspended from the stem of thevalve, a handle formed from a :resilient metal strip for suspending andholding said trough in position, the lower portion of said handle beingsecured to the ltroughand to the stem of the valve, said handle having ayield'able arm projecting ,upwardly and provided with a hooked terminalfor engagement with the pipe when the trough is to vbe filled with afresh 'sup- =ply of water, the hook being adapted to be sprung laterallyfrom its engagement with the pipe to permit the trough to be entirelyrelieved of all contents.

4:. The combination with a supply pipe and a spout provided with arotary valve having a stem extending laterally through `one side of thespout, of a trough located below said valve and suspended from the `stemof the valve, a handle formed from a metal strip for suspending andholding said 'trough in position, the lower portion of said handle beingsecured to the trough and to the stem of the valve, said handle havingan arm projecting upwardly and provided with a hooked terminal forengagement with the pipe when the trough is to be filled with a freshsupply of water, the hook being adapted to be sprung laterally from itsengagement with the pipe to permit the :trough to be entirely relievedof all contents, and a plate extending laterally from said handle andover said trough,said plate conforming to the shape of the top of thetrough and being of less diameter than the same to space the edgethereof inward from the edge of the trough.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

CHARLES w. vALLIERE.

